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Poaching at the O'Neill Forebay and San Luis Reservoir

39K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  mike17670 
#1 ·
The fishing at the Forebay is a mere speck of what it used to be. The primary reason is due to over harvesting. There's LOTS of people that fish there for food. Heck I keep one or two from time to time as well.

Bottom line is that most people don't want to stick their neck out and expose those that they see fishing areas that shouldn't be fished or keeping over limits of fish. If we as a group don't start doing this the fishery will suffer!

I would like nothing more than to see the glory days back at the Forebay. I understand that night fishing will possibly not be allowed there anymore, and in my opinion that's a good thing!
 
#2 ·
A friend & I were fishing The Forebay & observed Familys overfishing Also undersize fish...Told the guard at the gate & he didn't do a thing,,,called CalTip & they didn't have anyone to respond...What a DFG we have...These families had 5 gal buckets full of fish..Thats where all the fish are going..They come there every day..So much for illegals starving to death...
 
#3 ·
I recently started going bank fishing at the Forebay and have had varied results. So far I have only fished along the check 12 area (where the aqueduct flows into the forebay) and have yet to catch any on the reservoir side.

Consistently I have caught the most striper on chicken liver, and I have tried everything from live minnow to blood worms. On my best days out there I've caught limit within 15 minutes, but I've been skunked many times too.

I've been there a few times in the last month and there always seems to be a family with a bunch of kids who take up 50 yds of shoreline using like12 fishing poles.

Problem is that I pay $10 a trip to go, and i fish with two poles with my two pole endorsed fishing license, and I still skunk out cause I can't compete with 4 adults using 3 poles a piece! Technically, I guess they could say they're all fishing, but the kids are no where near the fishing poles. They were also keeping EVERYTHING I saw them catch. Was only a handful but from a distance only one looked even close to 18"...

On top of that they let the kids run wild and before you know it pebbles are being tossed in, then rocks, then boulders, then not even any bites.....at that point I decided it was time to call it a (short) day and go home to a 6 pack.

Any ideas besides trying somewhere else? :frustrated:

Also what areas and what bait do you recommend for the reservoir side? I have heard that the bigger ones are over there..

Thanks for letting me vent! Looking forward to posting some catches soon.
 
#4 ·
You realize it won't matter about the over fishing...BECAUSE When the stripers are extinct in the delta, then no fish being sucked in the pumps to bring all the stripers to your area....SOOO when the wells dry, then you'll have no problems at all... You can sit on your hands & hope someone solves your problem....or you can call CalTip....DFG...Keep hammering the gate guard to do something Your problem is only the fish you get is what survived the pumps, which probably don't spawn at O'neil & places south>>>Our problem is affecting the entire west coast, from oregon to monterey...It would deem you to invest a few letters of protest as to the water wars which is destroying the complete san Francisco Delta to make Resnick & a few other Argri growers down south Rich at our fisheriues expense......Jim
 
#5 ·
Undersized and over limits come out of the reservoir and the forebay day and night. There is no way possible the game wardens can keep up with it. I do know the wardens are doing as good of a job as possible. I see them checking people day and night and have seen them catch guys hidding fish in the rocks or weeds. There is just too many poachers for even ten wardens to control. (I think there are only a few of them). The best way for us as legal fishermen to combat the problem is to continue to notify cal tip when we see something, keeping in mind it is not realistic to have a warden come out every time.
 
#8 ·
Here in Banos I know where two game Wardens live sadly they never move their vehicles.. Unless they work at night or something??? Other anglers agree they have more then enough resources. Two weeks ago a warden hit check 12 and made a half ass attempt to check Fish lengths there was more then two migrant workers with under size striper he was just asking if they had the appropriate size on them didn't bother to do a visual inspection..angry9.gif
 
#6 ·
Well theres no money according to DFG to have extra wardens..I'd like to know where the money goes when they charge close to $50 for license & tags..If they inforce the regs & fined these individuals, it would pay off...But a lot of these families are migrant workers that are doinf the dirty deed..How do you get mony out ofthem?...Plus the stripers don't spawn in these waters, SO once our delta bass are gone , then there won't be any pumped into these holding waters...Problem solved..They didn't lose the battle at the Alamo.....just relocated..:frustrated:
 
#7 ·
Long time Angler of the Fore-bay come weekends its Heart Breaking to set foot out there. You get to many People from the bay Area a certain element so to speak taking Trout size fish by the bucket loads. Last two weeks only thing hiten for me are Shakers 15 to 16 inch fish.. Its upsetting to think what goes on at night between both lakes.. angry9.gif You can take a spin at night and just count the Lanterns as far as night Fishing it was never stopped it continues to this day.. People pull right off the Hyw and drive down into the lake bed. some sleep in their cars and I have seen some pitch tents the water Lvl in San Luis is Ridiculously low right now.
 
#10 ·
I used to flyfish San Luis and O'Neal Forebay back in the hey-day. Largest fish was 35lb'er , and released numerous 10 to 20 lb fish regularly.
One day I saw a van pull up backing into the shore. The one individual got out pulled out a rubber raft and proceeded to run a long line with aleast 100 hooks on it. I called Cal-Tip right there at the time and reported the crime and all I got was this statement " it's either this or food stamps". At that point, I lost all respect for California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Looking back, and what it San Luis is now,
It makes me sick on what happened.
 
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